Behind the Gwyneth Paltrow backlash

 

Gwyneth Paltrow's new lifestyle/advice website, Goop.com, went up yesterday in preview form, but the backlash is already well underway. The site will be a collection of recommendations and musings from Gwyneth herself about things that make her life special.... but the road ahead looks bumpy for this little operation! It's not just that no one wants to take life direction from the girl who has it all -- though that's a powerful thread in the criticism of the site. There are also some more basic technical problems on display, starting with the layout of the two-page site. It's not clear why she bothered to put it up with so little content on it. It feels like something that won an award for Web design in 1998.

 

We're given little but mottoes and flourishes. "Nourish the inner aspect," we're entreated. Er, but "aspect" means "appearance to the eye or mind." Meaning, I think we're being told to nourish our inner superficiality. Advice-wise, not promising.

 

The home page of Goop is bare and white, listing just a few categories in which Paltrow will offer said nourishment: Make, Go, Get, Do, Be, and See. Each has a little pastel-colored icon (a bike, a butterfly, etc.). Lots of people appreciate a clean-looking home page like this. But there's pared-down, and there's undernourished, and Gwyneth's page leans more in that direction.

 

In another obvious sign that the site is still under construction, each of the categories links to the same note from Gwyneth herself.

 

"GOOP, a collection of experiences," that note reads across the top, again striking a note of shallowness. Experiences, after all, don't seem meant to be collected, like bottles of perfume or vintage posters.

 

Then comes Gwyneth's own voice:

 

"My life is good because I am not passive about it. I want to nourish what is real, and I want to do it without wasting time. I love to travel, to cook, to take care of my body and mind, to work hard..."

 

One wants to give Paltrow the benefit of the doubt as she works out the kinks, but this website will involve a lot of writing, and in this little note she has not found a winning tone. In addition to the substantial number of I's, she sounds preachy and rigid. It's great that she wants to "nourish what's real" -- but why follow that up with "without wasting time?" Just figuring outwhat's real takes some people a lifetime.

 

She ends with a rather demanding list of things we should do to get started making our own lives better:

 

"Invest in what's real. Cook a meal for someone you love. Pause before reacting. Clean out your space. Read something beautiful. Treat yourself to something.Go to a city you've never been to. Learn something new. Don't be lazy. Workout [sic] and stick with it. Goop. Make it great."

 

Maybe that "pause before reacting" was actually a nod to her critics, to give her site time to develop. Sadly for Paltrow, this is the web. Gawker rushed right in to make fun of the unlovely name "Goop," and Popeater whipped up a photo gallery of names Paltrow must have passed on (yes, including the obvious scatological rhyme.) E! Online let it fly from sentence one:

 

"Good news everyone, Gwyneth Paltrow is launching a lifestyle website -- because when life is as amazing as hers obviously is, it's selfish to keep all those fabulous secrets to yourself." Granted, says the blog fadedyouth, "being a rich actress with an equally rich rock star husband makes it a lot easier to spend your days reading novels, shopping at fancy stores, and traveling to exotic places."

 

That brings us back to the life-advice-from-a-star issue. Women are unlikely to line up to hear Paltrow explain how she has perfected the art of living. It's a tricky line you have to walk, if you want to advise the fair sex. You really ought to have suffered some sort of great hardship and loss. It also helps if you struggle ceaselessly with your weight, and it's a bonus if your domestic arrangements are on the freakish side. As evidence, I offer this list of successful, beloved female advice purveyors: Oprah. Martha. Suze. Rosie. Tyra.

Not a rock star husband among them. Come to think of it, not a husband among them.

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/09/gwyneth-paltrow.html

 

I have to say I did notice that almost every single article that reported on GOOP had nothing but bad thing to say about it and more specifically her. :confused:

Her bday is Sat..Wonder if she will be with Chris???

 

I really wish she wouldnt do her website because there are so many Gwyneth haters out there it's amazing.Sometimes I read different blogs that talk about her, and the hatred is rampant.

wow gwyneth's hot news this week!

last week it felt like she fell off the earth!

Aww she looks great! She and Chris are like the world's greatest role models.. such an amazing couple!:)

wow gwyneth's hot news this week!

last week it felt like she fell off the earth!

 

You're not wrong. Here she is AGAIN!

 

At a TODs dinner she is hosting in Milan

 

I don't like her hair, it's too severe and I'm thinking she may have succumbed to the lure of botox, her forehead is looking increasingly glassy :\

 

 

 

She still looks pretty, but I think she looked much prettier earlier in the day when she was more natural :nice:

her hair is a bit too flat... I'd like to see her with bangs.. but that dress....

DAMMIT that color is great on her!(and she knows it)

Yeah is too blonde too. I like it like this :idea2: :

 

 

Do you remember her when she was dark? She looked gorgeous with dark hair.

 

that's pretty disgusting...i hope that's not true:(

 

 

 

it's obviously true, there are pictures right there

No Mel means she hopes it's not true that she actually BOUGHT the shoes. Is more likely that they were borrowed or rented ;)

You're not wrong. Here she is AGAIN!

 

At a TODs dinner she is hosting in Milan

 

I don't like her hair, it's too severe and I'm thinking she may have succumbed to the lure of botox, her forehead is looking increasingly glassy :\

 

 

 

She still looks pretty, but I think she looked much prettier earlier in the day when she was more natural :nice:

 

yeah, i liked her curlier hair better, when she made it wavy sometime this summer. i also kind of wish she'd go for a more natural-looking version of blonde: less platinum blonde and more...real. like her roots: i think that color would look amazing on her, and less barbie.

 

i'm kind of just anti-hair-dye for everyone, though, so take that with a grain of salt :P

No Mel means she hopes it's not true that she actually BOUGHT the shoes. Is more likely that they were borrowed or rented ;)

 

:lol:

looks like there will be some lovin going down in milan this week for Gwyneth. I mean it is her birthday and all. Maybe that's why she looks great in these pics :)

OK this is kinda funny...

 

What Would Gwyneth Do?

 

Mmmm... tastes like Gwyneth! (AP)

Like a ministering angel, that paragon of tastemaking -- Gwyneth Paltrow -- has at last answered our prayers with her latest venture, a Web site named GOOP (which, along with "Apple" and "Moses" makes her 0 for three in the naming department).

The site -- which bears a scarily similar feel in look and tone to Daily Candy -- promises to share Paltrow's unerring taste with anyone with a Web browser and a desire to emulate the insouciant one's charmed life.

While there is a short mission statement currently posted at the site, Celebritology managed to get a copy of the draft version*. We share it in its entirety below:

My life is good because I am not passive about it. [i took full advantage of being born to

famous

parents

.] I want to nourish what is real [my Britishness], and I want to do it without wasting time. I love to travel [first class, de rigueur], to cook [when it suits me. And not have to do the dishes. Ha!], to eat, to take care of my body [i still don't get why everyone doesn't hire a

trainer

] and mind [i'm all about my Trivial Pursuits fact-a-day calendar], to work hard [at being as insouciant as possible]. I love being a mother who has overcome my bad qualities [

foot in mouth disease

] to be a good mother. I love being in spaces that are clean** and feel nice [like my London home when

Chris

is on tour].

Over the years I have tried different things [like

Brad Pitt

and

comedy

]. I have made lots of mistakes [the whole "Apple" thing -- too late now]. But I have figured some things out [DVD remote] in the process and would like to share them with [lucky lucky] you. Whether you want a good place to eat in London [who doesn't?], some advice on where to stay in Austin [i'm so hip!], the recipe I made up this week

[i eat!]

, or some thoughts from one of my sages [

Madonna

!], GOOP is a little bit of everything that makes up my life.

Make your own life good [poor things]. Invest in what's real [like, say, a

Tod's leather satchel

]. Cook a meal for someone you love [yes, oneself counts]. Pause before reacting [boy have I learned this one]. Clean out your space

[i can't stress this whole clean thing enough]

. Read something beautiful. Treat yourself to something. Go to a city you've never been to [and stay there!]. Learn something new. Don't be lazy. Work out and stick with it [and you, too, may find yourself in

Jay-Z's inner circle]

. GOOP

[i have no idea what this means. It's like "Smurf."]

. Make it great.

--- * You know we like totally made up the bracketed bits, right?

** Gwynnie's obsession with "clean" is well documented. In 2004, she explained her naming of daughter Apple thusly to Oprah Winfrey: "...apples are so sweet and they're wholesome and it's biblical - and I just thought it sounded so lovely and ... clean!"

By Liz | September 23, 2008; 11:15 AM ET

 

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2008/09/what_would_gwyneth_do.html?hpid=entnews

She is quite the oddball.

She is quite the oddball.

 

I had the very same thought:D

Hahaha.... yeah, that was pretty much all I could come up with to say something about her. I mean, GOOP? What is that?

Yeah is too blonde too. I like it like this :idea2: :

 

 

Do you remember her when she was dark? She looked gorgeous with dark hair.

 

 

the dark hair was great on her! made her eyes sparkle..

 

i always liked it this way

 

 

i was looking up a piccture of her with bangs... I don't know why I wanted it back... it's not that hot...

 

She is quite the oddball.

 

which is why she mixes so well with chris

For some reason I think she looks like the most beautiful woman in the world in this pic :nice:

Mom: Gwyneth's Marriage Works 'Beautifully'

 

Originally posted Thursday September 25, 2008 11:35 AM EDT

 

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow Photo by: Ben Dome / Pacific Coast News; Splash News Online There's something musical about Gwyneth Paltrow's relationship with Chris Martin, the actress's mother says.

 

Their marriage works "beautifully," Blythe Danner, 65, tells New York's Daily News. "There's something in the musicality of their world. It's not just what they do, but their rhythm, the way they are together."

 

Of course, there's also another love in Paltrow's life these days: cooking. Spain ... On The Road Again, her food series with her chef pal Mario Batali, premiered this week on PBS.

 

"I cook all the meals for my house," Paltrow, 35, told PEOPLE in New York Sunday at the launch party. "I really love to cook."

– Chris Willard

She's a freak show

It works "beautifully" because they're always in separate countries :lol: Never seeing each other and not having the chance to really wind each other up must do wonders :P

I really like Gwynie ..she seems so sweeet :nice:

 

 

:uhoh: *gets ready for weird looks*

Gwyneth short interviews from ...Spain on the Road Again Premier:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAN5w1e2n3U]YouTube - Spain: Gwyneth Paltrow/Mario Batali[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1x9AD8Q5PI]YouTube - Gwyneth Eats Her Way Through Spain[/ame]

 

Cheesy TOD's campaign Pashmy Dream directed by Dennis Hopper

 

http://www.tods.com/todstv.html?region=eu&lang=en&detail=43

Oooh and I just got an email from Miss Paltrow :P

 

 

Thanks for signing up for GOOP.

 

This website has been a long time in the making. I have thought about it for years and have been recording information and making notes for this very moment, when I can begin to share it all with you.

 

This week we begin with MAKE. Cooking and food have become my main ancillary passion in life. This may strike some of you as odd, as my friend Mark Bittman of the New York Times once told me, “you have a terrible food reputation, everyone thinks you eat some dry seaweed and a little brown rice.” How did this come to be? I suppose it was my rather strict four-year foray into macrobiotics. I am no longer so restrictive with my diet, far from it. But some of the tenets of macrobiotics have stayed with me and they always will. I try to eat locally, seasonally and always organically. I don’t eat processed foods or red meat and I try to stay away from sugar and dairy but I have a major cheese weakness and, well, you only live once.

 

These first two recipes are ones that I make all the time. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

 

i make the :wacky: face when picturing gwyneth making these, because i also imagine chris eating them :P

 

i don't know, domesticity of celebrities kind of makes me laugh, like how i laugh when i hear a recording of my own voice or something :P

 

[/insanity]